Divine Level Witch Doctor

Lu Qing glanced at the lock and whispered, ”I’ll pick it.”

”Can you do it?” Zhao Yuan asked.

Lu Qing said confidently, ”Rest assured. Opening an old-fashioned lock like this is simple.”

”Alright, go ahead.” Zhao Yuan nodded, his left hand gripping a Fearless Pearl and his right clutching an Exorcism Talisman.

Hao Li carried a small wooden case on his back. He now set it down, took out a Bone-Cutting Saber, and stood guard with intense focus. Ying Ji drew her Bone Blade, ready to cast a Curse at a moment’s notice. Unfortunately, since it was broad daylight, she hadn’t brought her Corpse Puppet.

Lu Qing took a Fine Iron Stake from her pocket, inserted it into the keyhole, and fiddled for a few moments. With a soft CLICK, the lock sprang open.

After drawing her pistol, Lu Qing turned and gave a hand signal to Zhao Yuan and the other two, then abruptly shoved the door open.

Immediately, a thick, putrid stench of blood and decay billowed out from the room. The smell was so overwhelming the four of them nearly choked.

Fighting down their nausea, the four slowly entered the room.

The room was pitch-black, the curtains drawn tight and blocking out all light. Only a sliver of light filtered in from the open door. In that dim light, they saw that the room was completely crimson!

The walls, floor, and ceiling were all coated in a layer of red; they couldn’t tell if it was paint or blood.

Zhao Yuan found the switch and turned on the lights.

Only then could the four of them see the room’s interior clearly.

The room was sparsely furnished and very plain. Several large porcelain vats sat on the floor, and they seemed to contain living things. Sensing the four of them entering, the things inside began to thrash violently, banging against the sides of the vats with loud THUDS. If it weren’t for the numerous Talismans pasted on the vats, whatever was inside would have already broken out.

In the very center of the living room stood an Altar, enshrining a three-faced, green-skinned, fanged deity. The statue exuded an extremely sinister and bizarre aura that made one’s skin crawl just by looking at it. It was clearly no righteous Divine Spirit, but more likely some brutal and savage Demon Ghost or Evil God!

On the offering table in front of the Altar, instead of the usual fruit and incense, there was a basin of glistening red objects. Upon closer inspection, they were hearts, livers, spleens, lungs, and kidneys. Whether they were animal or human was impossible to say!

Even Lu Qing, who had seen her fair share of murder scenes, was horrified and sickened by the sight.

Ying Ji and Hao Li were no different, and Zhao Yuan clapped a hand over his mouth, fighting the urge to vomit.

There was no trace of the culprit in the living room.

The four pulled open the curtains and windows, partly to let in more light, and partly to air the place out.

The stench of blood and decay in the room was simply too strong for any of them to bear.

The four then continued to search the other rooms, discovering a corpse in the bedroom.

Zhao Yuan activated his Qi Observation Technique and saw that the person had no Vitality left; they were one hundred percent dead. But their body was still teeming with countless strands of Yin Yang Qi.

’Could it be...?’ Zhao Yuan’s face fell. He quickly stopped Lu Qing, who was about to step forward for a closer look. His expression was grave as he said, ”Stay back. There are probably Gu Insects inside that body!”

The words had barely left his mouth when a buzzing sound emerged from the corpse. The four watched as chunks of skin cracked and flaked away, revealing raw, red muscle underneath, swarming with a dense mass of hornet-like Gu Insects!

The sight was absolutely horrifying, enough to make one’s skin crawl.

Even Ying Ji’s expression changed as she cried out in shock, ”Those are Vampire Bees! An Evil Gu raised on human blood from birth. They’re not just swift and aggressive; they’re also extremely venomous. If you get stung, the toxin will quickly paralyze you, and you’ll become their next meal!”

Lu Qing exclaimed as well, ”Those are the monsters! These are the things that killed so many of our comrades!”

”Get back! Out of the room, now!” Zhao Yuan’s face was grim. He never thought that even in death, the culprit would leave them such a parting gift.

Ying Ji, Lu Qing, and Hao Li didn’t dare hesitate, immediately retreating from the room. Zhao Yuan slammed the door shut with a BANG. But it was little use. The Vampire Bees, having caught the scent of the living, went into a frenzy, attacking as if on stimulants.

Countless impacts could be heard striking the door—THWACK, THWACK, THWACK. Cracks began to splinter across its surface; it clearly wouldn’t hold for long. At the same time, a number of Vampire Bees began squeezing through the cracks at the top and bottom of the doorframe.

Lu Qing recalled how they’d dealt with these Evil Gu before and shouted, ”These Vampire Bees are afraid of fire! We can burn them!”

”But where are we supposed to get fire right now?” Ying Ji asked, her face a mask of distress.

Hao Li sliced two Vampire Bees out of the air with his saber. He pulled a lighter from his pocket and said, ”I’ve got a lighter. Will this do?”

Lu Qing and Ying Ji both glared at him in unison, their expressions clearly saying: ’Can you be serious for once? This is no time for jokes!’

But Zhao Yuan’s eyes lit up. ”A lighter? Quick, give it to me!”

Hao Li quickly tossed him the lighter.

Zhao Yuan caught the lighter and pulled a bottle of rubbing alcohol from his Storage Ring Space. He took a swig, held it in his mouth, took aim, and flicked the lighter, spitting out the alcohol in a fine spray.

”WHOOSH!”

The alcohol ignited instantly. A roaring jet of Flame erupted from Zhao Yuan’s mouth, engulfing the Vampire Bees. A huge swarm was immediately set ablaze, turning to ash in seconds.

Seeing this, Zhao Yuan felt a wave of relief. As vicious as these Vampire Bees were, they were indeed afraid of fire!

Zhao Yuan became a human flamethrower, spitting several more jets of fire and incinerating a large number of Vampire Bees.

Lu Qing, Ying Ji, and Hao Li weren’t standing idle. They ripped down the curtains, used their blades to slice them into strips, and each took one. After returning to Zhao Yuan’s side, they doused the cloth strips in the rubbing alcohol, lit them with the lighter, and turned them into makeshift torches. They then began swinging them, bashing them into the swarms of Vampire Bees.

Working together and using seven or eight bottles of rubbing alcohol, the four of them finally managed to incinerate every last Vampire Bee in the room.

Lu Qing, Ying Ji, and Hao Li were extremely curious as to where Zhao Yuan was pulling all this rubbing alcohol from, but it wasn’t the right time to ask. They could only push their questions to the back of their minds for now.

”Oh, thank god, we’re finally done.” Zhao Yuan heaved a long sigh of relief. ’My mouth is completely numb...’ The rubbing alcohol had a high concentration; even just holding it in his mouth without swallowing was extremely unpleasant.

Lu Qing didn’t let her guard down. She scanned their surroundings and said, ”Are all the Vampire Bees dead? Everyone stay sharp. We can’t afford to leave a single one, or we’ll be in trouble.”

The other three agreed with her.

The four of them immediately began a thorough search of the entire apartment, and just as they suspected, they found a few lingering Vampire Bees in hiding, which they promptly destroyed.

With that done, the four of them returned to the corpse, which was now mangled beyond recognition.

A single question rose in all their minds: ”Is this the culprit we were looking for? Why did he die so suddenly? And how did he become a nest for Vampire Bees?”